Vail, Virginia

About the author

Virginia Vail is a prolific author. Most prolific authors have some biographical information lurking, somewhere, about them. I’ve not been able to track any down yet about her. Perhaps Virginia Vail is a pseudonym. She’s contributed several titles to the Animal Inn series, and has written a horsey series, Horse Crazy, all set during one summer at an American riding camp.

Finding the books
Reasonably easy to find.

Links and sources
More on the Rosettes series
Terri Wear: Horse Stories: An Annotated Bibliography

Series

Horse Crazy
Horseback Summer
Happy Trails
Good Sports
Surprise Surprise
Horse Play
Riding Home




Bibliography (horse books only)


Horseback Summer

Troll Associates, New Jersey, 1990, 121 pp, illus Daniel Bodé.

Emily is spending the summer at horse camp, but there’s a fly in the ointment. Spoiled Caro
Lescaux wants the horse that Emily loves.

Happy Trails

Troll Associates, New Jersey, 1990, 123 pp, illus Daniel Bodé.

Camp’s great, but there’s a misfit in Emily’s cabin. She’s overweight, and she’s depressed. She resists all attempts to make her feel better, and then disappears.

Good Sports

Troll Associates, New Jersey, 1990, 122 pp, illus Daniel Bodé.

The girls at horse camp don’t think they have any chance at all of winning the sports and riding competition against the rival boys’ camp, until Libby’s grandmother proves to be quite a coach at softball.

Surprise Surprise

Troll Associates, New Jersey, 1990, 123 pp, illus Daniel Bodé.

Emily’s best friend Judy comes to visit her at horse camp. Judy gets on really well with everyone else, so well, Emily feels left out and jealous.

Horse play

Troll Associates, New Jersey, 1990, 123 pp, illus Daniel Bodé

Emily and her friends at camp are scared that the camp’s owner is going to sell the land to a developer. They try and convince the developer that there are terrible reasons why the land shouldn’t be built on.

Riding Home

Troll Associates, New Jersey, 1990, 121 pp, illus Daniel Bodé

At last the summer at horse camp’s coming to an end for Emily and her friends, but then the cabin acquires a mascot; she’s friendly, but she’s 8 and she’s exhausting!

Gift Horse

Scholastic, New York, 1991, 119 pp.

Val’s horse, Gray Ghost needs an operation. If he doesn’t have it, he’ll go blind, so Val’s been saving hard. If the operation works, her horse could be a champion again.

The Palomino

First published USA, HarperCollins, 1992
Hodder (Knight), London, 1994 (Rosettes 6)
Stabenfeldt, 2008, cover Paul Casale

Tess is spending summer at her uncle’s stables with her dream horse, Ariel.   Developers are trying to buy the stables, then freak accidents start happening. Is
someone trying to frighten her uncle into selling?  And how far are they prepared
to go?

If  Wishes Were Horses

HarperPaperbacks, New York, 1994, 187 pp.
Stabenfeldt, New York, 2004

Cam longs to join the South Shore Centaurs, a local riding club, but before she can do that, she needs a horse. She thinks she’s done it when she finds a neglected gelding it appears nobody else wants.